New Celestron Nexstar Range

[Radders]

http://www.celestron.com/browse-shop/astronomy/telescopes/nexstar-evolution-8

Thoughts?

[Kirscovitch]

I like the idea of the built in lithium battery. Is 10 hours realistic?

[Radders]

I'm not sure? Suppose it depends on what you've got running off it.

Looks nice though. Wonder what the prices will be..

Radders

[JamesF]

Given the way marketing departments work, I imagine ten hours is what you might expect if all you are doing is tracking a single target.  If you're slewing about the sky or using the USB port to charge other kit then I'd not be surprised if you couldn't get close to that.

It doesn't look like there's a power take-off suitable for dew heaters, for example.  I don't know if the C6 might get away with it, but for the C8 and C9,.25 I don't reckon you'd get a very long session without them, at least here in the UK, so another power source may well be necessary anyhow.  If that's the case I think personally I'd rather have a single battery to lug about and keep charged than two.

It does appear to be a pretty robust mount though.

James

[CodnorPaul]

Looks to be a good improvement features wise but I found the single fork arm on the SE mount, with an 8" OTA, too much weight and it wobbled far too much to make it a worthwhile set up, I also found accuracy to be very poor on the mount (it made a lot of noise too but that is personal preference).  If they have resolved those 2 issues with this design then it will be a winner for sure.

I always advise people wanting an 8SE to look at an 8" on the AVX mount for similar money - far more solid platform even for visual, and the option then of AP also.

[Ptarmigan]

Thanks for the heads-up.

I dont want to be a wet-rag but :

I hope these Li-Ion batteries are better than the ones Panasonic supply(supplied) for their cameras

If not,

you may get 6months worth @ 10hrs, then you will notice a fall off in capacity, after 2years you will be down to about 5hrs then it will level off.

So I am not a fan of Li-Ions !!

They are good for ultra-small cameras needing high capacity,

not sure they are the best choice in this application

I hope I am wrong cos it looks nice otherwise !

[ronin]

Someone has realised that people have and use their smartphone/tablet for things these days.

Would not realistically expect 10 hours out of the batteries but I cannot see anyone standing outside for 10 hoiurs continuously either.

Concerning 10 hours at first and perhaps 5 or 6 hours after a few years, as best I know there isn't a battery that remains 100% over time so not really worse then others, it would seem to just be how good or bad they actually are.

Would be more interested if it is a standard and so easily available item or a specifice made only for Celestron. If I had to replace it in 5 years it would be good to get a match off the net rather then through Celestron.

The idea of control via an app is fine but to an extent you still have to be there to look through it. However hopefully the interface is a good improvement, or should be.

[Pig]

LoL @ 10 hours.

When did we last get 4hours of observing in   it would be nice to have the opportunity to moan about the battery not lasting